If the governor and Legislature would get their acts together, we’d say Louisiana’s budget could be stable. But given the unlikelihood of the aforesaid, it’s difficult to quarrel with the bond rating agencies that “negative” is a better word for the state’s financial outlook. We can certainly do better, though, and we hope… Continue reading →

After last month’s mass shooting inside The Grand 16 Theatre in Lafayette, Gov. Bobby Jindal was quick to shut down any talk about the role that easy access to guns played in this and other such tragedies. “Now is not the time” to get into the “politics” of gun control, Jindal said, prescribing hugs and… Continue reading →

We never will know why a mentally unstable person chose Lafayette to try to restart his life. We never will know why, after a matter of days there, he decided to fire a handgun inside a movie theater. The only thing we do know is that Louisiana law permits private entities engaged in public commerce a latitude that… Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal restarted his campaign for the 2016 presidential nomination. Like a politician shouting in the forest, did anyone notice? On a good day, Jindal is lucky to equal the margin of error in national polls in which he has been listed or polls in such critical early states as Iowa,… Continue reading →

ICE, ICE, BABY!! The dog days of summer are upon us, and it’s hot and getting hotter! Everyone’s looking for ways to beat the heat. Perhaps with a nice ice-cold drink? So, what’s going in this scene? You tell me. Keep it clean; be creative. be witty; be wacky. Avoid the obvious, and most importantly, have fun!… Continue reading →

Way back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was young reporter playing on one of this newspaper’s softball teams. One of the opposing teams was a bunch of young lawyers. One of the lawyers was Hillar Moore III, the current East Baton Rouge Parish district attorney. I can announce, without equivocation, that Moore is a… Continue reading →

The Reveille Alumni Association has been flooded with comments about the potential of new revenue streams and the impending reduction of print publication for The Daily Reveille. LSU Student Media alumni worldwide have varying opinions on each one of the difficult issues spelled out in Elizabeth Crisp’s story, but we all agree on one thing: Students,… Continue reading →

It should be obvious to anyone that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s directive ordering an investigation of Planned Parenthood in Louisiana is political grandstanding designed to create unnecessary delays in the opening of a new Planned Parenthood clinic in New Orleans that will perform abortions. Jeff Sadow is helping the governor along, using the same techniques used in the video… Continue reading →

Up in Mount Vernon, Ohio, there’s a guy who’s concerned about Louisiana. Very, very concerned. So concerned that he recently cut a $150,000 check to the Fund for Louisiana’s Future. What Thomas Rastin was really supporting when he made the big donation, of course, wasn’t the state itself but U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s quest to become… Continue reading →

As a former head of the U.S. State Department, there probably are some questions that Hillary Clinton ought not answer as a political candidate, because her opinions could prejudice some operation. Perhaps there could also be legal ramifications for some issue at State that is now in the courts. But does anyone think that the endlessly… Continue reading →

One more time, an angry, disturbed, mentally unstable and untreated man has destroyed lives with a random act of gun violence. This time so close to home, in a Lafayette movie theater. Maybe now there will be some serious effort at gun control so disturbed people like Houser do not have easy access to guns. BUT, of… Continue reading →

Columnist Jeff Sadow makes two basic claims in support of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s decision to turn his back on more than 300,000 working-age Louisiana adults who could benefit from Medicaid expansion: First, he says expansion costs the state too much. Second, he claims that having Medicaid coverage is no better than being uninsured — and that people might… Continue reading →

The Lafayette killer John Houser would not have been able to buy a gun if he were from Louisiana, according to Gov. Bobby Jindal, because state courts here must notify the feds whenever they lock up a nutcase. Houser would thus never have passed the background check required for gun purchases.… Continue reading →

Despite all the controversy about vaccines, their value in preventing the spread of serious illness is indisputable. That’s why parents in Louisiana should make sure that their school-age children are current in all of their vaccinations as the school year approaches. Some parents have suggested that vaccines can produce autism in youngsters, and that belief has… Continue reading →

Our lawmakers frequently tell us that the cost of TOPS is increasing so fast that the program cannot be sustained. They don’t tell us that 100 percent of TOPS funding goes from the state general fund, the tobacco trust fund and the tobacco settlement revenues into institutional budgets. In short, TOPS is a modest component of funding… Continue reading →

The 2015-16 Louisiana Student Standards Review gives parents, educators and all concerned citizens the chance to provide input on our state’s learning standards for English and math. This important review, led by Louisiana educators, ensures that K-12 education stays on the right track and that our current and future standards meet the needs of our students… Continue reading →

When East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Bobby Simpson took office in 2001, the grand plan for revitalizing downtown Baton Rouge was on the drawing boards, but practically speaking, it faced a huge stumbling block: The blighted block of the old Capitol House hotel was an obstacle to progress. After at least a decade of failed efforts,… Continue reading →

By any measure, the dimensions of Louisiana’s effort to fight back against coastal erosion are going to be vastly enhanced over the next decade or so by the BP court settlement. That means not only more active projects but bigger ones, engineering the diversions of Mississippi River water and sediments to rebuild land along the state’s… Continue reading →

I read with interest Sunday’s Capitol Buzz column titled “Lawmakers on national conference circuit.” In it, there’s the implication, although not stated outright, that it’s a waste of state money for Louisiana legislators to attend conferences with fellow lawmakers from other states where we participate in discussion panels related to issues we all face. The implication… Continue reading →

Columnist Rich Lowry’s critical review of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me” (The Advocate, Sunday, July 26, 6B) is harsh and hasty. Coates’ “view of America” is neither “toxic,” nor “silly,” nor “morally blinkered.” Coates, in the current issue of The Atlantic (July/August 2015, pages 85-86), contends that post-racial society is still a distant dream. This assertion… Continue reading →

When some 4,500 people venture out to a conservative New Orleans suburb on a sweltering Sunday night to cheer on a self-described socialist, it’s safe to say that something’s going on here. Bernie Sanders, the New York born, 73-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont, has emerged as a populist sensation on the Democratic… Continue reading →

Recently, during the National Right to Life Convention in New Orleans, an annual anti-abortion conference, Gov. Bobby Jindal touted Louisiana as the “most pro-life” state. He flaunted the amount of anti-abortion restrictions that he has signed during his two terms in office, using “religious freedom” to justify taking away a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about… Continue reading →

It’s hot as can be outside, but it’s Christmas in July for elected officials who have BP settlement money to spend. In Jefferson Parish, it appears part of the money may go to pay raises for parish employees, a nice thing if you are running for office this year. The Parish Council… Continue reading →

In response to Assistant District Attorney Christopher Bowman’s Guest Column “How We Can Achieve True Prison Reform, Reduce Criminal Relapses” — we applaud the district attorney’s agreement that we in Louisiana “incarcerate too many people.” That is the starting point to any conversation. However, Mr. Bowman is wrong to argue the problem is not that we send… Continue reading →

I read with sorrow Lew Carter’s obituary and feel compelled to remember, with respect and praise, Lew in this brief letter. I became acquainted with Lew only about eight years ago through my interest in history and the Pointe Coupee Historical Society. Lew had donated his large collection of over 200 phonograph records — dating from the… Continue reading →

Try living on a job that pays $7.50 an hour. It’s not a lot of fun. But if we are aware of the difficulties of families trying to make it in low-wage jobs, we’re also aware of the challenges facing a small business trying to get started and confronting an array of taxes… Continue reading →

Recent news concerning the Louisiana black bear’s “endangered species” status calls to mind an interesting story from Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.” That important book’s first edition (1859) contains this account in chapter six (Difficulties on Theory): “In North America the black bear was seen by Hearne swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus… Continue reading →

In response to the recent letter by Rebecca Carl, there is a reason KKK cowards hiding behind sheets display the Confederate flag, and it is not to teach civics or history classes. Her argument and that of others that removing public symbols is, as she said, “rewriting Southern history” is simply bogus. The history was already… Continue reading →

In the debate over testing in schools, under attack from both left and right of the political spectrum these days, the underlying question is too often missed: How do taxpayers, who fund the public schools, know the quality of the product? We believe that taxpayers — only a minority of whom have children… Continue reading →

Not long ago, an interesting chart came across one of my news feeds. The headline asked: “What makes a presidential résumé?”Published by the National Journal, the chart broke down next year’s presidential field by “primary occupation.” There were plenty of lawyers, of course, a handful of business people and doctors, plus a… Continue reading →

Even as the Louisiana Legislature edged closer this year to embracing the folly of Medicaid expansion, the data continue to pile up underscoring how its adoption it would lay waste to future state budgets. As time has passed, states that already unwisely went the expansion route now project nasty surprises on the cost side. It seems practically… Continue reading →

It’s the same old story. You try to do someone a favor, but there’s not a word of thanks. Rerouting freight trains from Old Metairie to Hollygrove is an idea that has been kicking around for years, but the feds cannot put off a decision much longer. Jefferson Parish President John Young says… Continue reading →

Here in Louisiana, we often like to think of our state as a place apart from the rest of the world. There is comfort in that kind of attitude, since it gives us the feeling, however illusory, that we’re somehow insulated from the darker realities that govern life everywhere else on the planet. But Thursday night’s… Continue reading →

My friend Muriel Haysbert has a new kidney that has given her a new lease on life. I wanted to interview her and the donor about how the process happened. Colette Greggs, the donor, initially refused. I told Greggs that her decision to be a donor might inspire… Continue reading →

It is a shame that the vandals who defaced the Beauregard statue were not aware that he believed that black lives mattered as well. He swore an oath of loyalty, applied for a pardon under terms of President Andrew Johnston’s amnesty proclamation for ex-Confederates, and after it was granted, his remaining civil rights, including being able to hold… Continue reading →

The U.S. is in a steep decline in every way one looks at it. Current policies, local and federal, are creating lawlessness — examples being sanctuary cities, ignoring illegal aliens, not enforcing border laws. Federal laws are being broken and the federal government is complicit in turning illegal aliens and criminals loose on U.S. citizens. The… Continue reading →

Regarding Civil War monuments in New Orleans: 1. Of the four monuments, it is most desirable that the Jefferson Davis should be the first one to be removed. Since he was president of the Confederacy, he shares most of the blame. 2. Lee Circle and the statue should stand for abolition of slavery and the justice… Continue reading →

Astaggering turnabout in the politics of education is playing out in the U.S. Congress and in states like Louisiana, where once-widespread agreement on accountability is now in danger because of an odd alliance of teachers unions and ultraconservatives of the GOP. Here’s the statement we agree with: “We cannot… Continue reading →

We’re all going to be hearing a lot about Republican primary debates in the coming weeks. About which 10 candidates will be invited to Fox News’ kickoff event on Aug. 6, based on their standing in which polls. About what it would mean for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s candidacy should he,… Continue reading →